The Shard
Overview "The Shard" is the ninth chapter of Mirror's Edge. Synopsis Faith Connors heads back to Mercury's Hideout, only to discover it is in ruins. Finding him under his couch, Mercury is seen armed with a B&T MP9 and is critically injured. He tells Faith that City Protection Force (most likely Pirandello Kruger forces) invaded his hideout and attacked, taking Kate Connors with them. Managing to kill some, Merc was shot badly. He managed to tell where they took Kate when he overheard them, and then he dies from his wounds. Saddened by the loss, Faith gets near the Shard, the place Merc heard the Blues say. Using underground passages, she finds a electric door that was malfunctioning and sparking due to a leakage over it. Releasing gas into the atmosphere (and getting into a safer place), the sparks and gas explodes the door, making an entrance into the Shard's parking garage. Hearing the explosion, Blues are alerted to the garage and open fire on the Runner. After escaping (or killing Blues on sight), Faith takes an elevator into the Shard's main building. Getting to a higher level, she gets ambushed by a pair of heavy armored soldiers, commanded by Miller. When the CPF officer tells the pair of soldiers to check the downed Runner, he kills both PK forces. He tells Faith that he was only getting information from Travis Burfield the day Faith saw both of them in a meeting and found out that Burfield was the "inside man" on Pope's murder. Miller hands a comms unit to the Runner and informs her that they were taking Kate onto the roof. After being attacked by even more PK forces, Faith attempts to get to the roof by an elevator. However, the Blues stop the elevator, and Faith has no choice but to use the emergency exit and escape into the ventilation shafts to avoid contact with the Blues. Miller, tracking Faith down by cameras, tells her that the shafts leads to an exterior of the other side of the Shard. Getting outside, snipers and a handful of PK forces attack the Runner again. Finally getting to the other side and back into the Shard, Miller unlocks a emergency elevator for her to get to the last level. After informing her that she needs to destroy the four server "banks" to unlock the roof access, Miller's position gets revealed as gunfire is heard at his location (it is unknown if he lived or not). After Faith manages to destroy all vital server equipment on the top floor, she finally gains access to the roof. Getting there, she sees Jacknife, holding a handcuffed Kate at gunpoint, walking closer to a prepared helicopter. He reveals that he was actually working for Callaghan and was planning to end it all by shooting Faith. Kate manages to attack Jacknife, who countered back and threw her on board the helicopter. Getting on, he tells Faith Connors one last line, "You can't live on the edge all your life, Faith. Sooner or later, you'll have to jump!" Ironically, with Runner Vision, a handlebar on the aircraft turns red as it was lifting off, showing that the player must use Parkour. Turning around, a trio of PK soldiers armed with assault rifles are right behind Faith. With the soldiers and Jacknife with a Machine Gun firing at her, Faith runs to the edge of the Shard and dramatically boards the leaving helicopter. The awed Jacknife did not have time to react as Faith kicks him off. Screaming, Jacknife fires several bullets at the craft as he plummets down to an obvious death. The bullets hit a crucial part of the helicopter, and possibly the pilot also. The craft starts to spin uncontrollably as Faith tried to hold on to her sister. An explosion rocks the interior as Kate slides off, and she barely manages to catch hold of the roof. Faith immediately jumps down, and just in time to grab onto the handcuffs before Kate falls off the building. A few levels down, the helicopter flies into the side of the Shard, blowing itself up. Pulling Kate up, Faith shares a hug of relief with her sister. Aftermath During the credits, a radio announcement reports that both sisters escaped the scene. PK has finally cooperated with the City Protection Force to investigate on Robert Pope's murder and to track down the Connors. Mayor Callaghan tells the city citizens not to use communication devices much because the computer systems destruction stopped the City regime from listening to the citizens' communications. Trivia *If you wait in the elevator at the time Miller tells Faith to leave it, the door will open and several PK guards will shoot and kill her. Gallery Category:Chapter